The present invention relates generally to alarm systems and methods of transmitting alarm data. More particularly, the present invention relates to portable alarm systems having the ability to translate alarm data to wireless digital data and to transmit the wireless digital data wirelessly and methods of such data transmission.
Alarm systems of various types have been in existence for many years. Alarm systems play in integral part in protecting assets within as well as the safety of those within monitored premises. Alarm systems are now available for automobiles as well as for building structures, such as homes, businesses, and the like.
In home alarm systems known today, the alarm systems are usually hard wired throughout a home, with the wiring usually terminating at a control panel located somewhere within the home. One of the chief drawbacks of such a system is the fact that it is permanently installed in the home and offers nothing to the original purchaser of the alarm system when he or she moves from the home. Furthermore, the installation of such an alarm system is labor intensive, and therefore, requires significant expense to pay for the installation. Still further, via their reliance on hard-wired telephone systems, such conventional alarm systems are easy targets for savvy intruders who know how to quickly and easily dismantle the systems by, for example, cutting the telephone lines on which the alarm systems rely.
The conventional security alarm system market does not offer alternatives for the millions of citizens that live, for example, in apartments, a hotel room, a leased office space, short term warehousing, and a multitude of other environments in which a person would not intend to stay for a relatively long period of time and thus would not wish to invest significant expense in a permanent alarm system for that environment and may not even be permitted to do so. It is exactly these types of environments where crime is often the highest.
Home alarm systems are frequently connected to the home's telephone wiring to automatically place a call to a monitor station at some distance away from the home to warn those at the monitor station that a possible illegal entry has occurred at the home. This, in theory, enables those at the monitor station to either send a security officer to the home or to place a call to the police to have a police officer inspect the home where the alarm was activated. A drawback of this type of system is that sophisticated burglars are knowledgeable of such systems and will cut the telephone wires prior to entry into the home, thereby rendering the security monitor station useless because when the illegal entry occurs, the system will not function to place the automatic call to the security monitor station.
Typically, alarm systems that transmit an alarm signal to a location outside of the premises being monitored do so via transmission to a central monitoring station. Often the owner of the premises is not informed of an alarm until further time has elapsed. Once notified, the premise's owner or their agent is only then able to intervene as desired. Further, central monitoring stations and the resources that they dispatch (e.g., police, fire, etc.) charge considerable amounts of money for the services that they provide to the owner of the premises. While the owner may feel that these costs are justified in certain circumstances such as when critical information (e.g., notification of a fire or intruder in the premises being monitored) is transmitted, many owners have experienced frustration with the costs associated with “false alarms” or transmission of non-critical information. Further, there are situations in which the owner may be able to respond more quickly and effectively than the resources that may otherwise be dispatched by the central monitoring station.
Thus, it is desirable for alarm systems to be portable, cost-efficient, and resistant to disarming by savvy intruders. There is also a need for further alarm transmission methods and devices associated with the same. In order to alleviate the frustrations and costs associated with the same, notifying the premise's owner or his or her agent promptly when an alarm signal is generated would be highly desirable in many situations.